National firm rates hospital quality.Each day, thousands of individuals seek the best healthcare provider for their needs. Quality is a key component in their decision making process. However, finding objective information on the quality of local hospitals and other providers has historically been difficult. A national study recently released by HealthGrades, places a Valley hospital, Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, in the top 5% in the nation for clinical excellence for the second year in a row. As a result, the Tarzana campus has once again received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence. HealthGrades, a national healthcare ratings firm, provides objective clinical quality ratings based on the outcomes of nearly every hospital in the country. These ratings are risk adjusted to account for differences in providers' patient populations and are currently based on CMS (1) See content management system and color management system. (2) (Conversational Monitor System) Software that provides interactive communications for IBM's VM operating system. Medicare data from 2000-2002. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the HealthGrades study, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence have markedly better mortality and complication complication /com·pli·ca·tion/ (kom?pli-ka´shun) 1. disease(s) concurrent with another disease. 2. occurrence of several diseases in the same patient. com·pli·ca·tion n. rates, even though they tend to treat more and sicker patients. Nationally, a Medicare patient who underwent heart bypass surgery Bypass surgery A surgical procedure that grafts blood vessels onto arteries to reroute the blood flow around blockages in the arteries (arteriosclerosis). at a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence had a 15.3 percent better chance of surviving than a patient who received treatment at an average hospital. The improved survival rates at Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence were also 15.4 percent for stroke, 12.62 percent for heart attack (in hospitals where angioplasty angioplasty (ăn`jēōplăs'tē), any surgical repair of a blood vessel, especially balloon angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, a treatment of coronary artery disease. and stent stent (stent) 1. a device or mold of a suitable material, used to hold a skin graft in place. 2. a slender rodlike or threadlike device used to provide support for tubular structures that are being anastomosed, or treatments were available), and 19.55 percent for community-acquired pneumonia community-acquired pneumonia Pneumonia caused by an infection currently present in the community; CAP is the most common cause of infectious death–US, and number 6 killer overall; of the 57% of CAPs in which a pathogen is identified, S pneumoniae . "The analysis produces a report card rating performance of hospitals based on the patient population of each individual facility," says Sarah Loughran, Senior Vice President of HealthGrades. "By comparing actual outcomes such as mortality or complications against what is expected, we can provide an accurate apples-to-apples comparison of providers." The "report cards," organized by procedure, are available for free at www.healthgrades.com. |
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